Iconic Australian franchise, The Cheesecake Shop has introduced a new limited edition menu offering set to impact franchisee profitability over the January period.

The Choc Overload and Banoffee Pavlovas were released earlier this month, in anticipation of the brand’s Australia Day campaign, which runs from January 22 to 28.

Peter Dable, general manager of marketing and operations for The Cheesecake Shop said the latest menu update followed consistent customer support over the Christmas trading period.

“Customers have shown strong support for our Cheesecake Pavlova which was introduced for Christmas in 2017 and then brought back last Christmas in 2018 and so extending the Pavlova range for Australia Day was just a natural step for us,” Dable said.

New offering innovations, particularly limited-time offers often require franchise partners to purchase additional supplies, however all of the ingredients in The Cheesecake Shop’s new pavlova range, with the exception of bananas can be found in-store already.

Dable confirmed that the brand had developed the new line with its franchisees in mind, suggesting the easily accessible ingredients, familiar techniques and ability for junior staff members to decorate allowed for seamless integration into franchised outlets.

“We know that a lot of juniors are decorating pavs in-store, so to develop pavlovas that would not be user-friendly to them, no matter how delicious, would make no sense to us,” Dable said.

To test the theory, the brand had a social and PR executive with no baking or decorating experience decorate the pavs during the product development process.

“We did this with the premise that anything that she found difficult to do, it’s likely our juniors would also find difficult, so ease and speed were central factors in the product development process along with flavour profile,” Dable said.

The Cheesecake Shop’s 2018 Australia Day Campaign also features a Pavlova decorating competition and free gifts for customers looking to purchase over the holiday weekend.